My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 344 Iki Naval Battle

On the sea outside Iki Island, the warships of the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese were fighting desperately.

Among them, the warships of the Ming Dynasty were tall, and even if the warships of the Japanese people were attached to the warships of the Ming Dynasty, they still needed to be thrown onto the warships of the Ming Dynasty with a hook and rope, and then desperately climbed up.

This led to a sea battle that was obviously turned into a siege battle. The warships of the Ming Dynasty were like fortresses on the sea. The warship was rammed and sunk.

Although some Japanese desperately climbed onto Daming's warships, what awaited them were strong bows, hard crossbows, and muskets. Even if it was close combat, the soldiers of Daming wearing battle armor were by no means Japanese swords in their hands. And the bamboo gun can break the defense.

It can be said that from the very beginning of the entire battle, Ming had the upper hand. The warships of the Japanese continued to be lost, and finally were intercepted by the warships of Ming.

At this time, the Korean warship that had been placed in the rear was finally allowed to enter the battlefield.

Although Zhang Fu had brought North Korean warships with him before, he kept them behind and did not allow them to participate in the battle, because he was afraid that they would disrupt the deployment of the Ming side. After all, naval battles are not about having more ships.

But now the Ming side has taken the advantage, and has successfully divided the Japanese fleet. At this time, the addition of Korean warships finally played a role, and successfully contained a group of Japanese warships.

The addition of the Korean warships also allowed the Ming side to expand its advantage again, enabling more Ming warships to concentrate their forces and destroy the Japanese warships in batches.

Facing such an unfavorable battle situation, the commander, Matsuura Hironobu, also panicked at this time. He did not expect that the strength of the Daming Navy was so powerful. Even though they had the advantage in terms of troops and number of warships, they still presented a one-sided battle situation. .

"Matsuura, the battle situation is so unfavorable now, our losses are getting bigger and bigger, why don't we retreat?"

At this time, Otomo's own boat came to the side of Matsuura Hironobu's warship, and shouted at him.

"No, if we retreat, the warships of the Ming army will definitely take advantage of the situation to cover up the killing, and our losses will only be greater by then!"

Hiroshin Matsuura shouted with a ferocious face, he was unwilling to fail, so he still wanted to persevere, maybe some miracle would happen, just like when the fleet of the Yuan army encountered a storm.

"Hold on, my navy is almost lost, how did you command Matsuura Hironobu?"

At this time, Kikuchi Kanetoya also drove over in a boat, and when he saw Matsuura Hironobu, he cursed.

It turns out that this time, all the navy divisions were handed over to Matsuura Hironobu to command, because he is best at water warfare, and Matsuura Hironobu arranged the Kikuchi family's navy divisions at the outermost periphery. As a result, the Kikuchi family's navy divisions suffered heavy losses. The warships in China may be less than a third of their original size.

"The navy of your Juchi family is relatively strong. Apart from you, the navy of other families can't stop the attack of the Daming navy at all."

Matsuura Hironobu replied solemnly.

"Fart, your Matsuura Clan's navy is stronger, why don't you send your own fleet to stand in front?"

Kikuchi roared angrily.

In fact, he knew very well that Matsuura Hironobu was deliberately using this to consume the strength of their Kikuchi family, because the two families share the same territory and both support pirates to plunder, so there are many conflicts of interests between the two sides.

"My family's navy is indeed stronger, but it must be used as a trump card, so of course it must be arranged until the end."

Matsuura Hironobu said again plausibly.

He is not afraid of Kikuchi Kanchao. After all, the current Kikuchi clan is no longer the Kikuchi clan of the past. Ever since the Kikuchi clan's old nest, Uto Castle, was breached by the shogunate, the strength of the Kikuchi clan has been declining, and many territories have been occupied by others. Of course, their Matsuura Fan also took the opportunity to take a bite.

"Juchi, didn't we agree before we dispatched our troops that all naval forces will be under the command of Matsuura, so he has his own reasons for how he arranges it!"

At this time, Otomo finally spoke up, but he was obviously more inclined to Matsuura Hironobu.

"Hmph, you are all colluding, and you want to use the hands of wise people to consume the strength of my Juchi family, I will not accompany you!"

Kikuchi Kanami roared angrily when he heard the words, and then sent an order to order the remaining navy of the Kikuchi clan to retreat from the battlefield.

In fact, it is not to blame Kikuchi Kentomo for not obeying the command, it is Matsuura Hironobu who is too bullying, under the current situation, if the attack continues, the entire army of the Kikuchi clan will be wiped out.

Facing Kikuchi Kaneto's retreat, Matsuura Hironobu and Otomo's son roared angrily, trying to stop the opponent, but it was useless. Finally, after receiving the order, the remaining navy of the Kikuchi clan decisively withdrew from the battle area.

The Japanese warships were already at a disadvantage, but now Kikuchi Kantomo withdrew the navy again, which immediately led to the collapse of the battle situation.

Because the other Japanese saw the retreat of the Juchi clan's navy, they thought it was their own side that had lost the battle, so the Juchi clan fled.

Since others could escape, so could he himself. Therefore, the retreat of the Juchi family led to the Japanese fleeing from the front line. One after another warships turned their bows and fled to the rear.

Seeing this situation, Matsuura Hironobu, Otomo Kiyoshi and others hurriedly shouted and ordered all soldiers not to retreat.

It's a pity that the army was defeated like a mountain. In this chaotic situation, the orders of Matsuura Hironobu and others could not even be conveyed, and it eventually turned into a large escape of Japanese sailors.

Matsuura Hironobu and others in the rear command finally stomped their feet angrily when they saw that the defeat had been decided, and also turned the bow of the ship and began to flee. After all, if they did not flee, they would probably be captured by the Ming army.

Seeing that the Japanese were retreating, Zhang Fu certainly would not miss this opportunity. The fast warship went around to intercept it, and the next warship followed the Japanese warship to chase and kill them.

The fleeing Japanese had no intention of fighting at all, and one after another warships were sunk or captured by the Ming army, and the entire Japanese navy suffered heavy losses.

In the end, Matsuura Hironobu and others fled all the way to Pingwaihai, and some Japanese sailors who stayed behind stepped forward to meet them, and the Daming navy who was chasing after them stopped.

After all, after all the pursuit and killing, Ming's soldiers were also very tired, and Hirado is the most important port in Kyushu, the defense is very tight, it is definitely not easy to take down.

What's more, only the navy was chasing this time, and Zhang Fu's infantry and cavalry were still on Iki Island, so Zhang Fu had no way to attack Hirado, so he had to retreat temporarily.

However, after this battle, more than half of the elite naval forces of Kyushu were lost, and they were no longer able to compete with the Ming navy at sea, so they could only stay in the port. Now the initiative is completely in the hands of the Ming army.

(End of this chapter)